Autumn Equipment Check

I've been working on bikes the last few days. Bike Universe has been having a bit of a sale, so I've been taking stock of what needs to be repaired or replaced on various bikes in the herd and going and picking up stuff.

This afternoon I got to thinking I should get the kids out to try out things and see which bikes are currently fitting them...



The Girl tried out the 24" fat tire bike - as she has been bugging us to let her ride in the winter for a few years now.



I also got The Boy to try out this Felt (adult small) fat tire bike we picked up in the summer on sale (knowing we'd need it eventually...).



While both COULD get on the respective bikes and pedal them around the yard, neither could really control them very well - so it looks like The Boy gets to ride the 24" fat tire bike for another winter, and The Girl gets to ride on the back of the Yuba for one more year.



She can't wait to get her (winter) mitts on this bike...

I also got the kids to try out some road bikes....



Teh Boy still looks a little small for the Dr. Matt's old Pinarello.



And a bit to small for the Amanda's Zebra.

I have a feeling he'll probably fit Amanda's Soma Double Cross bike by spring.



...which is good because I think The Girl will be taking over the Kona Jake 24! Which she is also very excited about.

I was thinking I might get the Cross Check tricked out with some new tires and pedals and such and we'll all go do some gravel riding on the back roads south of town in the spring. Well... me and the kids at least...



Later in the evening, heading to swim and dance classes, The Boy is wearing shorts... with his winter helmet...?

back road touring

Street Amenities

When the city decided to get rid of all their parking metres and replace them with pay stations on each block, they left a number of the posts to turn into bike racks. At the same time they had planned a number of "street amenities" to add to the posts with bike stands with seats or mini tabletops and stuff. There were a few designs...

I finally saw one installed when I rode downtown this morning to do my regular Saturday morning errands.



it was right be city hall... which was odd because there are scores of benches and picnic tables within a stones throw of this place. But maybe it was put here as it's the first one and it's being done as a demonstration or something..?

The seat is sort of spring-loaded - I tried to put it down to take the picture, but it wouldn't stay down... I probably should have got a better angle, I think there was a cup-holder hole in the mini tabletop.

That First Blast of Winter

Always catches me by surprise... This year even more so because it came so much earlier than it has in recent years! 

We were hit with an early snowstorm this year which started out as cold rain storm and then turned into wet snow. I don't love this wet and cold weather. I actually think I prefer -20°C to this - at least it's DRY!



It's come so early that leaves haven't even fallen from the trees which has lead to a lot of bendy and broken trees and power outages around the city.



This morning we had to get to City Hospital for The Girl's appointment at the Eye Centre. As a testament to the crappiness of the weather this is the least number of bikes I have EVER seen at the hospital's bike lock up - even when it's -40°C it's usually packed full of bikes.



The Girl at her appointment with some fancy glasses to check her prescription. She was pretty excited about them because she's been reading a fair bit of "steampunk" stories this last year and she decided they looked a lot like some sort of steampunky optical device...



After a stop at Night Oven Bakery we headed home through downtown on the Separated bike lane.



It wasn't the awesomest place to be - a lot of snow has gotten shovelled off the sidewalks into the lane and there was a LOT of water draining into it...



But it was still better than it would have been riding out in the middle of car traffic - sop I'm not going to complain too much!



Our awesome, indefatigable  neighbours were out and about today as well.



Snowy tunnel to get into our back yard!